culinary adventure: iceland;

So T and I just returned from Iceland this past weekend, which is why I’ve been a little lax on posting for the past two weeks! It was an AMAZING trip, let me tell you! Lots of hiking, a brewery tour, lots of natural wonders–think geysers, waterfalls, mountains, volcanoes, black sand beaches…–and we even got to see the northern lights! I swear we followed the clouds around wherever we went for almost all of the trip. If we were in the West, so were the clouds. If we were in Reykjavik, so were the clouds. If we were in the south or southeast, so were the clouds! But we did get to see them the second to last night, and my $1 app that I downloaded on the fly, actually turned out an okay photo or two, surprisingly. At least you can see the streaks of color in the sky, and considering otherwise you would’ve seen a whole lotta black with my iPhone camera…totally worth it.

Our culinary adventure in Iceland was actually pretty limited on account of the fact that eating out is eeeexpensive. A normal hamburger meal (think sit down restaurant, not fast food) was typically around $20-25, and because we stayed in a few apartments with their own kitchens, we got to make our own food! We found these pre-seasoned chicken dishes and tried the three flavors we could get our hands on: Tuscan chicken, Argentinian chicken, and Fajita chicken. They were all quite tasty and had more flavor than either T or I expected. We also bought a large bag of pasta that lasted us through the 10 days. Most of our dinner meals were pasta + a veggie (snap peas, or broccoli), a touch of whatever seasonings the kitchen we were in that day had around, and the chicken. We did make some tacos out of the fajita mix, but that was only average. Lunch was pretty much bread + cheese + deli meats, which was tasty, simple, and easy to pack when hiking or driving around for the day.

We did eat out a few times, which was nice because we felt we could splurge a little with all the savings that we racked up from cooking our own meals! We went to a cute cafe called the Laundromat Cafe for brunch one day, and T got the works: eggs, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, fruit, and cheese, while I went with a Chicken BLT sandwich whose garlic aioli was yum yum yum!

One of our last meals was at the Scandinavian restaurant attached to Hotel Fron where we were staying for our last few nights in Reykjavik. We were both feeling Icelandic seafood, so T went with the Lobster pasta, and I went with the fish and chips. Both were delightful, so if you’re going to spend a bunch of money, at least you’re getting good quality food! But the fish and chips was quite memorable–light and crispy crust; very much unlike what I think of when I think British or American Fish and Chips which always seems heavy to me, and the latter typically involves much grease.

We had plenty more food, but just to note a few other highlights: try the Skyr yogurt! It’s very similar to greek yogurt, but somehow smoother, creamy, and richer. They come in all flavors, and Icelanders sometimes mix in some yogurt milk to make it less thick.

T and I also discovered a new kind of cheesecake–not unique to Iceland, but is Swedish I believe. It’s called Ostkaka and definitely worth a try if you’re looking for something new. It’s definitely a cheesecake flavor, but is muuuuch lighter, rather in-between whipped cream and custard, though very creamy. We classily ate it with knives since we had no forks, and it worked out fine for us.